Chapter 838 Fearless

Chapter 838: Fearless Chapter 838: Fearless Editor: Atlas Studios Therefore, someone in West Xia suggested that Qi Haoran was not allowed to be posted to the southwestern and northwestern borders for 20 years.

After some bargaining on Fan Zijin’s part, and some relenting on the issue of the markets, the two sides finally came to an agreement.

They agreed that West Xia would return Changdu—the east of Linzhi—to Great Qi, and Qi Haoran would not be posted to the southwestern borders for 15 years.

Meanwhile, the taxes on West Xia’s businessmen at the markets would be reduced by 15%.

Fan Zijin agreed to this request readily.

Now that the two countries were on good terms, it did not matter if Qi Haoran went to Qiannan or not.

On the other hand, if the two countries became enemies and war broke out, this alliance would naturally be torn apart.

In West Xia’s opinion, being able to keep Qi Haoran out of the southwest for 15 years was a huge gain.

General Yuan had personally praised Qi Haoran’s ability to train troops.

Seeing that the Qiannan army was getting stronger day by day, they were under a lot of pressure.

Furthermore, they were constantly plagued by the feeling that Qi Haoran would eliminate their country at any moment.

Of course, the reason why they agreed to this request was because the land they had agreed to give up was not very important to them.

That being a highland area, it was sparsely populated and the land was barren.

Every year, it would start snowing in mid-September, and the snow would only melt in March the next year.

It could be said that this place was defined by extreme coldness much of the year.

There were no famous ranches here, and there were very few shepherds.

Back then, they had merely occupied this piece of land because it was on their way to the east.

As such, they did not feel heartache giving up this plot of wasteland.

If Fan Zijin continued to insist on the Hexi Plains, West Xia would rather destroy the diplomatic relationship they had just established than agree.

Of course, if they knew that there was a gold mine with a high reserve in this barren land, they would definitely not agree.

Unfortunately for them, they had no idea.

Fan Zijin had been pestering them for the Hexi Plains previously, and the West Xia envoy had ‘painstakingly’ counter-proposed with this piece of land instead.

Both sides met each other halfway and signed the credentials quickly.

Before the West Xia noble who had privately opened that gold mine received the news, that piece of land had been ceded.

However, regardless of whether they knew or not, they did not dare to tell the West Xia Imperial Court about this gold mine.

Otherwise, their entire family would definitely be exterminated.

No matter which country it was, gold, silver, copper, and iron were all state-owned.

The Imperial Court attached great importance to them, and the Western Xia had even stricter controls over this.

The noble who secretly opened the gold mine was only bold enough to do so because there was nobody living there within a 20-mile radius in addition to it being a barren mountain.

However, even so, he was very careful.

Therefore, more than a year ago, when he found out that something had happened to the mine, he did not dare to make a fuss at all.

Even if the mine had been emptied and 800-plus mine slaves and 300-plus guards and steward had disappeared into thin air, he did not dare to say a word.

He did not even dare to open the mine again.

He could only secretly get someone to keep an eye on the mountain, hoping to find out who had discovered it.

For the past year or so, just as he was about to give up all hopes of finding out who it was, he suddenly received news that his country had ceded that piece of land to Great Qi.

The young noble suddenly felt a little uncertain.

Could it be that the people who discovered the gold mine were not from West Xia, but from Great Qi?

Who had the ability to cross the border to West Xia and seize his gold mine under the watch of the patrolling soldiers?

Were the 1,200 soldiers dead or had he taken them away?

The nobleman thought about the people of Great Qi and Qi Haoran was the only possibility that came to his mind.

However, even though he gritted his teeth in hatred, he did not dare to say anything.

It was naturally easy to hide the matter of his secretly opening that mine when nobody knew about it.

However, once it was discovered, people who meant to find out who it was would be able to trace it to him.

When Little Bear heard from his mother that there was a gold mine on the piece of land that had been returned, his eyes lit up like the morning stars in the sky.

He exclaimed, “Second Uncle is really impressive.

He’s even more impressive than Royal Uncle and Daddy.” Mu Yangling laughed out loud and stroked his head.

“Wait for your father to come back and tell him that.” When Qi Haoran returned at night and heard Little Bear’s high praise for Fan Zijin, he didn’t even bat an eyelid.

“If your father hadn’t discovered the gold mine, could your second uncle have gone to negotiate for it?” Little Bear looked at his father with reverence and squeezed into his arms.

Then, he looked up and said, “Daddy, you’re amazing.” The corners of Qi Haoran’s lips couldn’t help but curl up.

The two little ones who were playing at the side also ran over and squeezed into his arms when they heard this.

They flattered him loudly, “Daddy, you’re so awesome.” “Father, you’re the best!” Mu Yangling looked at the grinning Qi Haoran and couldn’t help but purse her lips and smile.

She propped her chin on her hand and looked at the four of them.

Initially, the two little ones were just joining in the fun.

However, seeing how much their big brother admired their father, they also blindly revered him without asking for the reason.

This caused the three children to follow behind Qi Haoran tightly until they left Qiannan.

They straightened their chests and followed behind him like soldiers.

Qi Haoran spent a lot of effort to convince Little Bear to bring his younger brothers to sit in the carriage with Ah Ling first.

Seeing this, Liu Dahei said with a smile, “The little princes seem to admire Your Highness very much.” Qi Haoran rolled his eyes.

If his sons didn’t admire him, who else would they admire?

“You sent someone to check on the gold mine?” Qi Haoran didn’t have time to chat with him.

Speaking of serious matters, Liu Dahei’s tanned face turned solemn.

He nodded solemnly and said, “Yes, that nobleman even sent people to keep an eye on the gold mine.

Your Highness, should we…” Liu Dahei made a throat-slitting gesture.

Qi Haoran looked at him disdainfully and said, “Can you kill your way to his house?

Don’t bother about him for now.

Since the West Xia army is retreating now, it’s fine to reopen the mine after we build the guardhouse and completely take over that area.

Considering half of the gold in that mine has been mined, those holes and traces of mining can’t be covered up no matter what.

That fellow wouldn’t dare to make a fuss.” “About 26,000 taels of gold a year.

That’s 260,000 taels of gold in 10 years.” Qi Haoran snorted coldly.

“If the West Xia Imperial Court finds out that he embezzled such a huge sum of wealth, even if he takes the initiative to hand it over now, his family will definitely be killed.

He’s only sending people to keep an eye on the gold mine now because he’s indignant and wants to know who seized his gold mine.” So who was the one who said that Prince Rong was brave but brainless?

Liu Dahei shouted in his heart.

If that person came out, he definitely wouldn’t beat him to death.

Qi Haoran was totally a fox.

After seizing someone else’s gold mine, he could just swagger in nonchalantly like that.

Wasn’t this throwing salt into the hearts of people?

However, Qi Haoran did not feel guilty at all.

He said, “These originally belonged to my Great Qi.

After being taken advantage of by them for so many years, this is letting them off easy.

By the way, since there’s a huge gold mine there, there might be more in other places, too.

Get our men to search everywhere.

If only we can find a few more gold mines.” Liu Dahei chuckled.

‘Do you think gold mines are big carrots that can be found everywhere?’ Now that Qi Haoran was about to leave Qiannan, he felt a little melancholic.

After all, this was the place where he had stayed for five years.

He patted Liu Dahei’s shoulder and said, “Don’t interfere in the government affairs of the local regions.

Do promote harmony between the Han and Miao people.

After I leave, I’ll leave the southwest border to you.” Liu Dahei bowed and agreed.

After all, he had become the Southwest General because of his loyalty and obedience to the Emperor and Qi Haoran.

If you find any errors ( Ads popup, ads redirect, broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.